This partial biography of Robinson's first forty years presents a new Robinson - not the 'Black Robinson' of Rae-Ellis, James Bonwick, John West and James Erskine Calder, nor the 'White Robinson' of Mark Twain - but a 'Grey Robinson', a grey robin with a red breast.

Secret Tasmania can be either a guidebook for a quirky tour of the Tasmania or just a good, fascinating read that takes you from the modern myths and tragedies of Tasmania to its brutal colonial history.

Gathered here are three of writer Richard Flanagan's recent speeches in which he interweaves topics as diverse as troubadour poetry, love stories and the murder of the refugee Reza Barati; his top ten Tasmanian novels and the Australian Pacific solution; and his much-celebrated National Press Club address where he questioned the militarisation of Australian memory and argued for the need for formal Indigenous recognition.